Ben had a GREAT day today! He visited Grandpa Hobbs at work and got to ride in the loader with him. He climbed all over the machinery and was in heaven! The first things he said when he called home were “dozer” and “loader” as loud has he could! It was really funny!
He got a small metal loader that he loves, and told me he wants a big one! That will be a little steep in price and he can’t even drive yet, so we have some time to save up! 🙂
Today, Angela and Ben flew out to Idaho to visit Mom and Dad Hobbs and to support them in their “Mission Farewell” this coming Sunday. We will miss them a TON and can’t wait for them to get back! Even Ben called and was sad to not be here with us! He is having fun, but misses us too! 🙂
Today Sarah and Brittany marched in the Naperville Labor Day Parade! It was great to see both of them in the band. Brittany carried the state flag, and Sarah played her flute. It was a perfect day for the parade! Not to hot and not too cold, and it didn’t rain like it did for the Memorial Day parade.
Kirstyn, Zach, and Ben had a GREAT time watching the parade and cheered loud for their sisters when they came by! I wish I would also have been able to get a video of the turn that they do at the corners! It’s a square turn with a weave that looks really cool and VERY professional!
The little ones loved the parade. One of their favorite things (other than seeing their sisters march and other friends dance and march) was the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile!
We came home with a ton of candy (even after the kids at a ton while watching the parade), so our lunch was actually pretty small. 🙂 We relaxed the rest of the day and just enjoyed the down time!
Tonight we went over to the Kennedy’s house (friends of ours from the neighborhood) for a BBQ. We had a ton of fun and the kids enjoyed playing together. Ben especially liked eating s’mores after dinner and as you can see he got into his work! 🙂
It took a bit of work to get him cleaned up! First, he tried to wipe his hands with a napkin, and that made him look like a mummy coming undone. 🙂 It was quite funny for us to watch, but he got frustrated because he HATES to have sticky hands when eating. It doesn’t matter what his face looks like, as long as his hands aren’t sticky! 🙂
Tonight was the first varsity football game at Metea’s stadium! Brittany and Sarah were VERY excited to perform in marching band as well! Angela went up early to help with the band uniforms, and I helped out during halftime in our first attempt at being the “pit crew.” It was a lot of fun and being down on the field was cool. The band really looks GREAT this year! It is nice to see that they have grown in size!
Brittany is loving doing percussion and she also (as you can see above) holds the Illinois flag during the pre-game show. Sarah is ecstatic to be a marching leader again this year and sounds great!
The team ended up losing which was sad (due to a VERY bad call), but they, as a team with no seniors, almost beat a full team with seniors playing! Regardless of how they do, they’ll have a great year with a LOT of learning experiences!
Today at football practice, Zach got his official Broncos game jersey and the stickers for his helmet. He couldn’t wait to get them on so he could march around the house acting cool! 🙂
It took some time to get the stickers on because they were long and had to be placed just right on the helmet… a bronco for each side and then 2 blue and 1 orange sticker for the center (front to back).
The more he plays, the more he enjoys it. He is still not hitting very hard but he is doing a little better at paying attention when the coach is talking and they are running drills! 🙂
School started today! It’s hard to believe how fast the summer went by! It seems like yesterday that the kids came home from their last day of school very excited for a summer full of fun, trips, and rest! 😐 Next thing we know, we’ve returned home from a 2 week vacation to Utah and Idaho, attended EFY, gone to Girl’s Camp, attended youth conference, started marching band, had a Spanish student for a week, gone to all the school orientation events, etc. and now we’re going back!
Kirstyn could hardly sleep last night she was so excited for school to start. She had all her clothes set out and ready, her backpack all packed up, and was giddy as a 5-year-old on Christmas morning! 🙂 Brittany was a little nervous but excited as well. For Sarah, she’s excited, but this is “old hat” for her, and we’re not sure what’s going through Zachary’s brain right now! 🙂
It is SO nice not having to worry about Sarah and Brittany getting to school this year! 🙂 Sarah picked up her parking pass the other day and now it’s officially on the car! They’ll just get ready and go. I think Sarah is more excited about driving to school than she is about school! 🙂
After Sarah and Brittany sped off to school, it was time to get Kirstyn ready to go. Her friend Riya came to walk with her and they both looked overjoyed to be able to go to a new school! Kirstyn is excited that she doesn’t have to ride the bus anymore and they get to walk down the street to school!
Then it was Zach’s turn! We hope he’ll get along well riding the bus without his big sister helping him out! Hopefully he’ll also STAY on the bus until he gets to his stop! 🙂 He looked so cute in his backpack and bags of stuff he took to help the teachers!
That just left Ben and Angela home alone. As soon as all the kids were gone, Ben was EXCITED! He loves his brother and sisters, but we think he’s had enough of them this summer and needs a break! He actually turns into a different, less-rowdy person without all the noise and commotion all around constantly! 🙂 Look at the happy, relieved smile on Ben’s face…
Having the kids go back to school is a nice break for Angela, although she hates to see the kids go back to school. It just means less time with them and we feel even older! 🙁
Every Monday we have family night together. We sing, have a spiritual lesson, have activities and all kinds of fun stuff. Zachary was in charge tonight. He spent a ton of time over the last week creating a treasure hunt for our family to find the family night treat. He even worked to create “pirate” costumes for all of us to wear while going on his treasure hunt (he even made an eye patch for me). It was actually pretty cute and he was SO into it! 🙂
He created a treasure map, made up clues, and then had Angela hide the clues so, although he knew kind-of where they would be, he wouldn’t know exactly so he could have fun finding the stuff too! 🙂 What a cute little guy! He couldn’t wait until we all got home and could get started!
His treat were homemade chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches which we very much enjoyed! He was beaming from ear to ear after we found the treats! 🙂 It’s thinks like that which make having a family so worthwile! 🙂
Great job Zach!
Today was an absolute CRAZY day! We had a blast, but it was non-stop! It started with cleaning the church at 7am. We couldn’t do it at any other time, so we were all up at 6 getting ready to go clean. We were there with a couple of other families so the work went very quick! This was good because the girls had to be at the high school at 8:30am for marching band. We are SOOOOO glad that Sarah can drive now! It saves us a ton of time and is so worth the extra money for insurance! Because we don’t have to cart them around and make multiple trips, it’s actually saving us a lot of gas money! 🙂
Angela and I went up to the high school for Band Parent Preview at 10:30. We had a parents meeting with Mr. Devany, the Band Director, and then went outside to do marching drills and such with the kids. This is really old hat for us because this is our 3rd year doing it. There was a twist, however… Mr. Devany gave us all marching routes and we actually practiced marching and going somewhere! 🙂 It was fun but I have no idea how Sarah remembers all of this! Brittany was very glad that she is in the pit because they don’t have to remember all this stuff! 🙂
After we did the fundamentals (“fundies”) and marched with the band as they played the fight song, we had a family picnic. Angela ran home and got the rest of the kids while I stayed and helped pick up all the pit instruments and was “trained” on what we needed to do to set up and take down the pit. I am part of the “pit crew” this year, so I get to go to all the home games, competitions, and such and help with all the pit instruments. I’m excited!
After the family picnic, we all went up to the stadium and watched the band do their opening (fight song, America the Beautiful, and the National Anthem), and then watched them do what they have done of their program. It looked great! We in the pit crew I’m sure looked like confused chickens running around not knowing what went where, but we’ll get better! 🙂
Right after the band program (which they did a GREAT job on, by the way), we had to hurry home and get Kirstyn to a birthday party for one of her best friends. She got to go swimming and had a BBQ. Sarah ended up having to go pick her up at 6:30, because at 4:30, we met some friends (Thompson and Weisler) at our home and we drove downtown for a date. We went to the Pritzker shell in Millenium Park to watch the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) play their final concert of the summer music series. We took a picnic dinner and camp chairs and hung out and relaxed for an hour or so before the concert. We had some great food, including a chocolate fondue activity for dessert! 🙂 There were a ton of people there and many had very fancy spreads on small tables and were really partying it up!
The concert was great and it was very relaxing to just sit outside and enjoy the music on a cool night. It felt really good! What a great ending to a very active and non-stop day! 🙂
Zach had his ice cream social back at Gombert Elementary today! He is very excited to be in First Grade! He found out who his new teacher is: Mrs. Swanson. She was the Student Council faculty leader when Brittany and Kirstyn were there. She should be very good for him. We hope that she is strict and keeps him paying attention and not gabbing when she is talking! 🙂
We are very excited to see what he does this year. He is reading on a 3rd grade level or higher, and loves the challenge of new things. He is big into doing science stuff and we promised to do lots of experiments with him this year as long as he comes home and gets his homework done first. 🙂 Go Zach!
Today Kirstyn went to Still for the first time as a new 6th-grader for PAWS (Peer-Assisted something) day (not exactly sure what it stands for). They had all kinds of getting-to-know-you activities, got their locker assignments, met some of the teachers, and she made some new friends. She doesn’t have her schedule yet, but can’t wait to see what teachers she has.
I’ve never seen any of our kids so excited to be starting school as Kirstyn is! She is ready to go and wished that school could start tomorrow! 🙂 She wants to do all kinds of things, including trying out for the school musical in the spring. She also mentioned that next year she wants to try and run cross country! 🙂 I guess she liked seeing what Brittany did and wants to follow in her footsteps!
Today marching band started for Sarah and Brittany! Sarah is excited to be a marching leader again, and Brittany is very excited to be in pit. Even though she plays the violin, they let people with musical ability play with the pit (which they didn’t have last year because the school was so small). She plays the bass drum, gong, marimba, and other percussion instruments. It’s pretty cool! They have to go from 9-5 and they work really hard. The marching band is up in the 70’s this year which will really increase the sound!
I have volunteered also to be a member of the pit crew (a.k.a. “pit dad”) and will help them set up and take down for their halftime show during all the home football games. I’m excited to be involved.
